TeachingEnglish: Planning courses

Discover how to plan learner-centred courses based on your learners, their context and curriculum requirements. Explore techniques for analysing learner needs and involving them as active participants in the assessment process. Planning courses will open again on 1 October 2025, and will open for enrolment soon.

A group of teachers around a big table, looking at different notebooks and tablets. There are teachers of different genders and ethnic backgrounds sitting at the same table.

In the three modules, you will learn:

Module 1 — Integrating syllabus design and schemes of work: The aim of this module is to help you design and write a syllabus and plan a scheme of work. You'll be able to differentiate between different elements in course planning, identify which elements are under your control in your context and be able to discuss different types of syllabus.
Module 2 — Engaging with learner needs: The aim of this module is to enable you to consider your learners' needs by using a process of needs analysis. You'll be able to evaluate specific learner needs and produce tools to analyse the needs of your learners. This module also considers how you can apply the results of learner needs assessment to the learners you teach.
Module 3 — Engaging with learner progress: This module aims to help you engage learners as active participants in tracking their progress through the plan you've made for their learning. You'll evaluate learner-centred assessment approaches and design learner-centred assessment that considers syllabus outcomes, curriculum and learner needs and involves the learners as active participants in the process.

What else does the course include?

Planning courses is a free self-study training course, which is divided into three-hour modules. It also includes:

A dedicated Facebook community of course participants with up-to-date insight, resources and innovative ideas for you to try out
Engaging discussions taking place in the Facebook community
Live events with your course tutor and language teaching experts
A free workbook with extra learning content and resources.

When is the course?

Planning lessons will open again from 1 October-31 December 2025. Enrolment will open soon.

How much does the course cost?

The course is free.

How can you get a certificate?

You will receive a certificate if you successfully complete all self-study modules.

What level of English do you need?

Minimum CEFR B1

Having problems accessing the course?

Please see our FAQs if you are having problems accessing the course.

What can you do now?

If you're interested in learning more about planning courses, you can:

Get teaching ideas from our Courses for teachers Facebook community.
Access learning content related to our courses on Facebook (Facebook account required).
Access teaching resources on the TeachingEnglish website
Sign up to the free newsletter to keep up to date on when our courses open.

Downloads

File attachments

Workbook_for_Planning_courses_0.pdf295.51 KB

Bookmark this

Comments

Course end date

Hello, I haven't finished all the modules yet, I'm aware that the course should have closed on 31st March 2025 but until now I can access the course and modules, has the course been extended? Can I still finish the modules and earn the certificate? Can you explain better please?
Thanks

Course end

HiYe7iawy,

Thanks for your message and I hope you managed to finish the course in time. Planning courses will open again in October 2025 so you can finish it then if not - your progress will be saved. Sometimes due to time zone differences courses are open for 1 day after the official closing date on the TeachingEnglish website, but we always advise using the dates published on the course training page to know when the courses start and end.

Remember you can also access the course workbook (on the page above) to find out more about the topic.

Thanks,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Planning courses

Good to be part of a course that helps analyze learners' need based on their priorities, the context in which they learn, and the curriculum they are in.

Thanks

Thanks MauricioEEC - we're glad to hear that you are finding the course useful!

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

I can't access the modules

I enrolled for the course on time but I cannot access the modules?

Course

Hi James

Thanks for your message - I've just checked your account and can see that you have now completed all the modules - hope you found the course useful!

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

I have problem to do homework

Course access

Hello,

Thanks for your message.

There was a technical issue with the learning site over the weekend, which was preventing some participants from accessing their courses.This issue should now be resolved. Can you please log in now and check you can access your modules? If you are still having problems, please let us know.

Thanks for your patience,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Problems doing new modules

Since today I cannot do any modules, not even the ones I did yesterday

I get the following error message

Sorry, something went wrong.
Please refresh your page and try again.
If the issue still persists, then please contact your system administrator.

I have tried a VPN and different browsers but so far no luck

Course access

Hello,

Thanks for your message.

Thanks for your patience,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Problem with access

Good afternoon. I am enrolled in the course, I have completed the introduction and I have started Module 1. However, all day today, I can't have access and continue where I've left off. How should I do?
Thank you

Course access

Hello,

Thanks for your message.

Thanks for your patience,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

I have problem in enrolling…

I have problem in enrolling. Please guide me.

Course access

Hi Asim_Shujaee

You nee to click on the 'Enrol on this free course' button on the page above to enrol.

You can find more information on our FAQs page here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/training/training-courses-faqs

If you are still having problems, please write to us at TeachingEnglish@britishcouncil.org and give us the details of what specific problem you are having so that we can try to resolve this as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

When I click my course it…

When I click my course it says you don't have any course I enrolled and made loging process what's wrong so

Course

Sorry you are having problems. It looks like you weren't enrolled in the course, but I have just enrolled you. If you click on 'My Portfolio - My courses' you will be able to access the course now. Please let us know if you need any further help.

Thanks,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Certificate

I have completed all modules with 100% and my over all score is 80% but I can't find my Certificate in reward. Kindly guide me

Certificate

Thanks for your comment. I've just checked your profile and it looks like you have only completed 80% of the course. Your progress needs to be 100% to get the certificate. If you think there is an error with your progress, please contact the courses team directly by using the orange 'Help' button on the courses page.

Thanks, and hope you are enjoying our courses.

Cath
TeachingEnglish team

Planning courses

I'm very glad to know about this coures
I'm too excited 😊

That's wonderful, we hope…

That's wonderful, we hope you will enjoy it.

Planning

Thanks for your comment, and we hope you enjoy the course!

Cath
TeachingEnglish team

planning courses

I am very glad to know

Hi everyone, I'm glad to…

Hi everyone, I'm glad to join the course. Thank you for organizing!

Joining the course

We're happy that you are going to join the course! Remember this course starts in February - you can also join our TeachingEnglish Facebook community to keep up to date with course news, live events and interact with other course members. You can join the group here: https://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncil/

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Planning Courses

Hi,
When will we be able to register for this course? So looking forward to it.
Kind regards
Tertia

Enrolment opening soon

Hi Tertia

Thanks for your message. This course will open in February, and enrolment will be opening soon, so keep an eye on this page. You can also sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on our upcoming courses, events and new resources. Sign up here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/subscribe-our-newsletter

Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the course when it starts!

Best wishes,
Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Planning courses

Good to be part of a course that helps analyze learners' need based on their priorities, the context in which they learn, and the curriculum they are in. I've been waiting for this course to appear in order to update and sharpen my skills as a practicing teacher.